Winning the Legend by B. Kristin McMichael

He was determined to go anywhere she went. The
retainers failed to notice her arrival aside from Rhys’ retainer,
who stood and offered her his chair. Arianna shook her head as she
stood beside her uncle, instead.
    ‘Everything safe while they
were sleeping?’ Arianna asked.
    Gabriel did not take his
focus away from Devin and Turner in the room in front of
them. ‘Yes. We moved them all into one
room as planned, and Patrick and I can then take turns watching
while they sleep. We won’t let anything happen to them.’
    Arianna bent down and hugged the man sitting
next to Gabriel. Patrick was her second cousin, and even though he
was as old as her own father would be, he was the closest she would
ever have to a real cousin. Patrick smiled up at her while Gabriel
watched over everyone.
    “Good to see you, cousin,” Patrick said.
    “And you,” Arianna replied. A couple of the
retainers looked over at her and Patrick as they talked. One even
seemed surprised to hear the greeting. Relations and party politics
were kept very close to home within the night human communities.
Most knew only the relationship between the head of the clan and
the next in line.
    “Ken’s wings are feeling good?” Arianna
asked. Just over two months back Arianna had healed Ken beyond what
anyone imagined she could do. Ken was a tengu, which was evident
when he unfurled his large, black wings, which were normally tucked
away just like Thomas. When Ken and Patrick were attacked, more
than likely by, or ordered by, someone in the room in front of
them, Ken’s wings were ripped from his back. Ken kept his wings
outside his body now, but they were tucked close. Arianna couldn’t
tell if they were actually functional.
    “Yes,” Patrick replied with appreciation.
“Never been better.” Arianna sensed around the room of retainers,
searching for the one that was listening the most or had an
increased heartbeat. One of these men knew who ripped off Ken’s
wings. Plan number forty-two was to see who was actually hostile
toward Arianna. Whoever attacked Ken and Patrick was considered
hostile.
    ‘The first man on the left,
and third man, and Rhys’ McKinny’s retainers are all interested in
this conversation, ’ Arianna noted for
Thomas. He looked to Andrew, who nodded in agreement.
    “Glad to hear that. Did you guys fly here,
then?” Arianna asked, still talking about Ken’s wings to be certain
she was right. She was correct. They easily singled themselves out.
She couldn’t be sure on Rhys, though, as his retainer had not
stopped staring at her since he arrived.
    “Oh yes, Ken was able to
fly as fast as I ran. It was good to see that they healed so
nicely. It’s as if nothing ever happened,” Patrick emphasized the
event one last time before nodded to Arianna. ‘He really is great. We could never repay you. Even coming
here isn’t repayment enough. We owe you our lives. Thanks,’ Patrick added for her only to hear. Arianna
leaned over and hugged her cousin one last time before leaving with
Andrew and Thomas close behind. Thomas had seen what they needed to
know for now. Gabriel would keep watch over the retainers for more
clues.
    Once back in her room, Thomas opened the
locked cabinet across from her bed and turned on the multiple TVs
inside it. Easily the training area was now in complete view for
Arianna to watch over everything that happened while she was gone
from the room. Thomas, along with Mori, had rigged the whole house
to have video for Arianna’s benefit. While she could listen and
feel almost as much as the videos could see, this way made it
possible for everyone to watch alongside her.
    “Who do we think was responsible for Ken’s
wings?” Arianna asked. She had studied all the competitors, but the
retainers were the ones to give the most away.
    “The closest one was Manuel Vasquez’s
retainer, his father Earl Vasquez. And the other was Chet Barret’s
retainer. We have two possibilities as to whom he is,”